Upcoming
- TBA
Recent Speakers
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Louis Jordaan is the owner and operator of Minwater Farm. “Minwater” (which means Little Water) is a private nature reserve and is situated 24km southwest of the town of Oudtshoorn in the foothills of The Gamka Mountain, an isolated range in the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo), between the Swartberg and Outeniqua Mountains. It is a rough, mountainous region which includes high hills and a big plateau. He has a wealth of knowledge of his veld in general and the plants that grow on Minwater in particular. [info from his web site] [He is also speaking in Toronto, Feb 16, 2014 - 1:00pm - 4:00pm.]
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Bill Brown is a long-time member of NARGS and of our Great Lakes Chapter though he lives in Long Island. He is an expert on the plants of Turkey and Cyprus, amongst which are many of the choicest spring bulbs grown.
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Ian Young, see info at NARGS Speakers List. A local picture of him with Tony Reznicek in the Nan Weston Nature Preserve at Sharon Hollow during his visit 28 Oct 2013.
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Peter George, International President, NARGS [info at NARGS]
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Rex Murfitt is a gardener, nurseryman and author. Creating and Planting Garden Troughs, by Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt came out in 1999 and won a “Book of the Year 2000” award from the American Horticultural Society; it has recently been republished in paperback. Creating and Planting Alpine Gardens: How to Build Small Rock Gardens and Work with Alpine Plants is a 2006 winner of an Award of Merit from the Garden Writers Association. [both can be had from Mackey Books or other sources]
Born in England, Rex trained as a nurseryman with the famous Ingwersens at Birch Farm Hardy Plant Nursery in Gravetye, Sussex, who taught him the art of propagation and cultivation of alpine plants. He traveled widely with Will Ingwersen, building rock gardens for clients. Later he worked in large English gardens including J. Spedan Lewis's gardens at Longstock Park in Hampshire. Eventually he became Head Gardener to Mrs. Constance Spry at Winkfield Place, near Windsor, where plants were grown for her world-famous flower arrangements. He helped develop her white garden, based on the one at Sissinghurst Castle. Under the guidance of Graham Stuart Thomas, he undertook the care of a large collection of old fashioned roses. He later moved to New York, and with Frank and Anne Cabot, started Stonecrop Nurseries Inc., at Cold Spring On Hudson, an alpine nursery based on English traditional methods. Stonecrop displayed rock gardens at Flower Shows in New York City and Philadelphia. Rex Murfitt now grows alpines for pleasure at home in Victoria, B.C., Canada (cf. Rhododendron Garden, University of Victoria, B.C. by Rex Murfitt and Alleyne Cook).
[excerpted from material at Mackey Books] - Fritz Kummert, is a NARGS National Speaker so NARGS National used to have a [biography]. He spoke about Searching for Plants in Albania and Our New Alpine House & Crevice Garden on Sunday 22 April 2012. Hamburg Senior Community Center, Hamburg MI [Map] 10:30—15:00.
- Don Wild is member of our local chapter and resident of the Ann Arbor area. He is also a stalwart of the local chapter of the Don spoke about American Conifer Society and an advocate of gardening in restricted areas with an interest in collecting conifer brooms. Don spoke Dwarf conifers for the Rock Garden on 1:30-3:00 pm, Saturday 21 January 2012 at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor [Map]. showing some beautiful examples of decorative conifers being grown in this area.
- Tony Reznicek, Curator of Vascular Plants in the Herbarium and member of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, spoke on Alaska Alpines: from Sea Level to the Mountain Peaks. 1:30-3:00 pm, Saturday 22 October 2011 at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor [Map]
